Mike Kessel

Mike Kessel is a visionary leader in healthcare. His career has been fueled by a passion for healthcare and over 25 years of experience in strategy, finance, organizational behavior, operations, and entrepreneurial ventures. As President and Chief Executive Officer of Cleveland Clinic Canada, he is responsible for leading the development of Cleveland Clinic Canada’s long-term strategy and overseeing its day-to-day operations to ensure the company delivers high-quality care to its patients and clients every day. Mr. Kessel’s focus is on the growth of the Canadian facilities, strategic partnerships, and enterprise value creation. His vision is to build an outstanding team of caregivers who are passionate about patient and client care and a sustainable organization that can meet the patient demand for the long term in Canada. During his tenure, the organization has implemented a unique public/private hybrid strategy that has led to formal partnerships within the healthcare ecosystem; SickKids, Sunnybrook Hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital, the Heart & Stroke Foundation, and others, with the collective aim to share knowledge to improve the overall quality of care for patients in Canada. Mr. Kessel has also led partnership efforts with the Ontario Ministry of Health, where there have been several important firsts for in-country and cross-border patient care in bariatric surgery and bone marrow transplants. Growing the Cleveland Clinic Canada footprint in Toronto, he led the acquisition of Sports Medicine Specialists in 2017– the highest volume sports medicine and rehabilitation clinic in Canada and the first international acquisition in Cleveland Clinic’s 100+ year history.

Over the last few years, Mr. Kessel’s focus has been on the creation of a healthcare subscription model for some of the clinic’s services in Canada – medical directorships, on-demand virtual care across Canada, and remotely focused longitudinal care services. With extensive growth in Cleveland Clinic Canada’s Medical Director Program, it now supports all five of the country’s major banks and some of the largest organizations in Canada from a range of industries. With clients ranging from international couriers to airlines (representing over ten sectors), the program is now offering its corporate medical director services globally for the Cleveland Clinic.

Mr. Kessel’s impact on the lives of Canadians goes beyond his professional role. As a nationally ranked table tennis player in his youth, he has combined his love of the game with a desire to unite people and give back to create ‘Cardiac Smash’, Canada’s largest corporate charity ping pong tournament. As a former Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario board member and current member of the Ontario Brain Institute, money from the event goes to support these organizations. Founded in 2015, Cardiac Smash runs in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver and has raised over a million dollars since its inception. He also holds board member positions at Unyte, a Toronto-based brain health company; Biomendics, an Ohio-based wound care organization; VIQ, a Toronto-based audiovisual capture company; and Solve.care, a health tech company leveraging blockchain to reduce administrative costs. Mr. Kessel is a former committee member of the Conference Board of Canada, an active member of the Young Presidents Organization, and serves on the Maple Leaf chapter’s New Member Committee.  

Before joining Cleveland Clinic Canada in 2009, Mr. Kessel was Co-founder and Vice President of Business Development and Finance for the Center for Partnership Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital/Trio Health in Chicago. In this role, Mr. Kessel was instrumental in developing a network of executive health and wellness programs with leading medical centres throughout the United States. He successfully secured 39 of the 42 Fortune 500 companies based in Chicago as clients.  The program was ranked as one of the top programs in the country by both Forbes and Fortune magazines.

Mr. Kessel graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in marketing and accounting. He received his certified public accountant (CPA) designation in 1995 and continued his education at Kellogg Business School at Northwestern University in Chicago where he received his MBA in 2005 with a focus on Marketing, Finance, and Strategy.

Mr. Kessel and his wife Julie have three children. He enjoys keeping active with a variety of sports including tennis, running, ping pong, basketball, and golf.